P.C. Wipeout

[slaphead]

I was given a P.C. with W.98, O.E.5 and i've just installed AOL. However as i did'nt like the AOL format i've deleted it and have lost my I.E. explorer in the process (when i click on the desktop shortcut it says 'cannot locate iexplore.exe). I want to wipe all these programs/files etc and start again with a blank P.C. but have no idea how to delete everything, can anyone give me some advice, i have the disks for W.98, O.E5 and I.Explorer but would i need anyhting else?

[j2buttonsw]

Before you wipe everything, create a Windows 98 startup disk (start-settings-control panel-add/remove programs on the 3rd tab is the startup disk). Backup all the data you want from the PC and make a note of the make and model of your main devices such as video card, sound card, modem etc etc (right click My Computer-properties-device manager). If you haven't got device driver CDs/floppies for these devices, now would be a good time to aquire them. Next, you boot from the floppy disk. Say yes to the CD support and at the A: prompt type format C: then return. This will wipe everything from your hard drive (C:). When this is done, put the CD in the drive then type setup. This will start a new installation of Windows 98. You can stick to the defaults but you will require a valid CD key (usually five blocks of five letter/number combinations). If you don't have a key try downloading Serials 2000 from the web. After the OS has installed you need to update the generic device drivers that Windows 98 has used with the up-to-date device drivers for your sound card/video card/modem etc Once you have no conflicts/errors in the device manager established an internet connection then get all the Microsoft critical updates (start-Windows Update). Finally, load your software (office etc).

[darth vader]

btw - uninstalling AOL removed Internet Explorer (IE) as IE comes with AOL as standard so the AOL setup thought ithad installed it, so rather than format your hard drive thinking something's wrong with it, you could simply re-install IE

[darth vader]

ps. i am not being snotty but giving genuine advice - if you don't know how to clean a hard drive then i wouldn't recommend going about a re-build without someone to assist as you will encounter more technical issues than hard drive formatting, in the re-build